Contact:    Brent Nibecker, Deputy District Attorney

(805) 654-5186

District Attorney Gregory D. Totten announced today that on July 8, 2009, a jury found Larry Eugene Barkley (DOB 11/26/73) of Ventura, guilty of the willful, premeditated and deliberate attempted murder of Anthony Ornelas. Barkley was also convicted of one count of committing assault with a deadly weapon arising from the same incident. The jury found true a special allegation that he used a knife in the attack on Mr. Ornelas' life. The jury also found that Barkley had suffered two prior convictions in 1999 for assault with a semiautomatic firearm. As a result of the jury's verdicts, Barkley may be sentenced to a term of 31 years to life in prison under California 's Three Strikes Law.

The attack on Mr. Ornelas occurred September 20, 2008, inside of a parked vehicle. Barkley was seated in the rear passenger seat while Mr. Ornelas was seated in the front passenger seat. Using the victim's own seatbelt, Barkley pinned him in place and then cut his throat with a large fixed-blade knife after Mr. Ornelas refused to supply him with drugs.

Sentencing is set for July 28, 2009, at 8:30 a.m. in division 23 in front of Superior Court Judge Kevin DeNoce.